Names of countries

[mena]

Test No. incompl/elem-8 "Articles", question 5

I want to go to the cinema to see a film about ......... and the French.

(a) France
(b) a France
(c) the France

Test No. incompl/elem-8 "Articles", answer 5

I want to go to the cinema to see a film about France and the French.

Correct answer: (a) France
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i want to go to the cinema to see about.... and the french, i don't know which one is france or the france

[Alan]

Single names of countries do not usually take a definite article: Living in France/Italy/England but THE United States/THE West Indies.
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Present Simple

[Satishchemeng]

Dear Alan ,
could you please elaborate it more , like why 'THE’ comes before US & West indies & why not with others

[Tagub]

...perfect! i made it

[Star In The Sky]

[Vamsivikas]

Y a France is not correct .

[Masako]

Hi Alan

I've got 8 answers out of 10 correctly. I took mistakes ' a France'. I understand that single names of countries do not usually take a difinite article and the people of countries usually take a difinite article like ''the French''.

Thanks.
Masako

[Alan]

Hi Masako.

I think I need to do some corrections first:

[Masako]

Hi Alan.

Thank you for your response. I'm very pleased to receive your corrections. It's very educational. I understand clearly that an indefinite article means "a" and a defnite article means "the". I didn't know that.

I wrote again for practice.
I got 8 answers out of 10 correct. I made mistakes like 'a France'. I understand that single name of countries do not usually take an indefinite article and the people of countries usually take a definite article like "the French".

Regards,
Masako

[Cobesieuqua]

i don't understand,i think " the Frech" becase .....and the French.i think parallel structure,you can explain help me,thank you very much

[Azebnow]

I have got 9 out of 10. my mistake was 'a France"

[Basitpasha]

If we are taking about a President John smith. Would we use article 'the" with his name?

For example,

Our country does not support their President. The John smith, himself is unsatisfied with this work.
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Mr. Abdul Basit

[Amy Sheez]

Hello Basit! We will not use "The" with names or places ie" Proper nouns" we can not say The John Smith, we will rather say "John Smith is not satisfied with this work".

[Beeesneees]

Any Sheez is correct -- however we would say ' the President':
Compare:
Our country does not support the President, John Smith.
Our country does not support President John Smith.
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Terry Pratchett

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